


You Don't Know About Me (But I Bet You Want To)

by dreamypope



Series: Mayward Week 2020 [2]
Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Halloween, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, JJ Is A Flirt, JJ being JJ, M/M, Pope Is Just Oblivious, Pope and JJ Becoming Friends, Pope's First Party, Song: 22 (Taylor Swift), boys having fun, mayward week 2020, oblivious pope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26844520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamypope/pseuds/dreamypope
Summary: "Why are you whispering?" Pope deadpanned loudly. "It's not like anyone's gonna hear you anyways over that deafening music!"JJ rolled his eyes at him, laughed. "You never stop with the questions, do you?"Pope gave him an apologetic look. "That's the way I am, take it or leave it," he joked.By that, JJ snaked his arm around Pope's shoulder. "Definitely taking it, let's go!"---AU where Pope is the new kid in town and JJ befriends him at his first Halloween house party with a tiny help from a couple of drinks and smooth dance moves......or JJ is being a flirt, and Pope is totally oblivious about it.
Relationships: JJ & Pope (Outer Banks), JJ/Pope (Outer Banks)
Series: Mayward Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956409
Comments: 9
Kudos: 33





	You Don't Know About Me (But I Bet You Want To)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lushology](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lushology/gifts).



> Mayward Week DAY 2 prompt was AU and the quote "Why are you whispering?"
> 
> You can find more content on Tumblr @maywardweek2020 and you can say hi to me on Tumblr @dreamypope.
> 
> The title of the fic is from the song 22 by Taylor Swift and that's sort of the theme song of the fic as well! Enjoy!

"Hey, turn that music down!"

Pope watched with a slight smile tugging the corners of his mouth upwards as a clearly overdramatic boy yelled out the words to a dude chilling closest to the stereo. Honestly, Pope was relieved to rest from the ecstatic beats of music for a moment. The latter did as told when the loud one suddenly climbed on top of a table in the middle of the room, everyone's eyes glued to him.

He let his hands run through his wild blond hair before announcing loudly: "Sorry, I was late!"

Approving howls and laughter erupted from the drunken teenagers as the boy grinned down to the crowd that had gathered around the table. Pope stayed against the supportive wall, clenching the red cup in his hand. Lemonade didn't exactly have the go-wild-or-go-home effect on him. What a Halloween, huh? He really did miss his childhood's trick and treating and watching movies with his parents while eating all the candy he'd collected until he felt sick. But his new classmate had invited him to this party because apparently everyone else was going, and so he'd finally dragged himself out of the house. "Make some friends!" Mama Heyward had whispered to him after hugging him lovingly.

The boy cleared his throat then, pulling Pope's wandering mind back to present, and threw his hands up in the air.

"I didn't want to come!" he howled before his face lit up in a wide grin. 

He jumped down from the table, laughter from every corner of the room surrounding him. The music was turned up, and everybody began dancing again.

Pope still eyed the boy curiously as he grabbed two shots on his way and started walking towards Pope's direction. Pope took a second to look to his right and left to see if any of the wild guy's friends could be chilling close to him, but everyone was busy chatting with each other. Abort mission. Was he really walking towards Pope, the most boring person in the whole wide world? There was a slight playful bounce in his step. Pope couldn't help but shake his head in amusement while the guy shot dazzling smiles to everyone.

And then, just like that, he arrived and came to a stop in front of Pope. And Pope panicked internally.

"You seem like you could use some company," he simply told Pope without any introduction. His voice was calmer now, but a hint of joy was still lingering in his tone.

"How come you still cared to come although you said you didn't want to?" Pope blurted out and earned a friendly laugh from the other.

"I'm here to befriend lonely souls like you," the blond boy explained, his eyes shining and corner of his mouth twitching up into a smug half-smile. "Show you the adventures of life and stuff, you know."

And no, Pope did not know actually. His life hadn't had many significant adventures so far, to be completely honest. Because reading in your bedroom for fun most of the evenings and jogging on Sunday mornings didn't count as living an adventurous life to most of the kids his age, Pope supposed. So he just nodded rather awkwardly and took a sip of his lemonade.

The boy inspected Pope for a second, squinting his eyes.

"Are you drinking lemonade?" he asked teasingly in a high-pitched voice.

"Yep, good old lemonade," Pope replied and mentally slapped himself for being so random with his words. Be cool.

The blond threw his head back, letting out a ringing laugh, and nudged Pope's shoulder.

"What?!" Pope asked, shaking his head but laughing along with the other.

"Here, take a shot with me!" he offered then, holding out two glasses filled with some strange orange mixture and decorated with a pumpkin sticker. Halloween, am I right? The beverage looked rather suspicious.

"Oh, I don't drink," Pope shrugged and felt a sheepish grin heating up his cheeks.

It's not like he wasn't allowed to or anything. He just didn't like the burning taste of the drinks he had tried so far. Besides, he preferred to have control over his body while being out at a party alone in some half stranger's house. Better not embarrass yourself in front of the new classmates you've known for only a couple of weeks. The other didn't even seem to notice his words though as he nodded his head along to the rhythmic beat of some loud pop song Pope hadn't heard before.

"Well sure, me neither," he let out a short barking laugh and downed his shot in one go.

Pope eyed him and smiled involuntarily. His hair was as chaotic as one's hair could be, red glittering devil horns tucked between the blond streaks. Even though it was his only item of a costume he'd still done a better job at dressing up than Pope who hadn't bothered to come up with a costume idea despite his mother's enthusiastic suggestions. He shot a wild grin towards Pope. What a catch, huh?

"Dude, come on, taste it! It's sweet!" he told Pope, his voice amused and smile never leaving his lips.

Okay, how bad could it be, right? It was just one shot. Besides, Pope had a feeling the blond devil guy wouldn't give up so easily. He took the glass from the other's hand, examined the drink before raising it to his lips. It was sweet, leaving a somewhat cough-syrupy taste in Pope's mouth. The boy looked as satisfied as ever.

"That's what I'm talking about, let's get this party started!" he said in an excited voice and patted Pope's shoulder as an approval.

He had that type of a vibrant and lively laugh that you just had to laugh along with. Pope chuckled. He was drinking now apparently. Suddenly he didn't know what to do with himself, so he just took another sip from his lemonade and scanned the room absentmindedly.

"So, Pope, first party, huh?" the boy questioned, startling Pope.

"Wait, how do you know my name?" Pope shot right back over the loud music, eyebrows scrunched in confusion and his voice probably sounding rather shocked.

The boy smirked at Pope's reaction, clearly pleased with himself.

"You work in that local pizza place, right?" he said like it was the most logical thing in the world. "I've seen you around."

He was so casual about the sentence that it was literally driving Pope insane. You've seen me around?? Well cool!

"Uh-huh, I do yeah," Pope nodded. So I'm not invisible to awesome people who are the same age as me? Interesting.

"Well, see, nametags are a thing," he explained with a sunny smile. "And you've never missed yours," he added with a grin then.

"Ah, sure, sure," Pope managed out, still a bit blown away and confused by the other's statement. So there was a dude who was suddenly interested in becoming friends with Pope, and he already just happened to know Pope's name before he had a chance to properly introduce himself. And Pope knew absolutely nothing about that dude. 

As if he'd read Pope's mind, the blond said with a dazzling smile: "I'm JJ by the way."

JJ. It was Pope's turn to smile. "Nice meeting you, JJ!"

He liked how his name sounded out loud, already enjoyed saying it. The name fit the blond well, a bit chaotic but coated with overwhelming positivity and friendliness.

JJ's face lit up with a showstopping grin suddenly when the song changed. It took Pope a few seconds to identify the tune. Okay, so we're dealing with a Taylor Swift type of guy, Pope thought to himself, amused, as 22 started playing. JJ gasped, and his face glowed like a kid's who'd just got a new toy.

"Oh, that's my song, come on, we should dance!" he announced excitedly and grabbed Pope's hand to drag him in the middle of the room.

"Nobody else is dancing, that's not my thing at all, sorry dude," Pope tried to excuse himself. Yeah, he had Taylor karaoke nights in the shower and sometimes (read: every single time he was home alone) dance breaks in his room, but he certainly would not dance in public, simple as that.

JJ didn't even blink an eye at his protest, already grooving along.

"Well, then it's time to make dancing your thing," he exclaimed and laughed at Pope. "Man, relax your shoulders, gosh."

"I mean you could go and dance with those girls, they've been staring at you the whole time," Pope tried again even though he was smiling at JJ's silly attempts to get him to move. He really wanted to dance with JJ, those girls can mind their own business.

JJ scoffed at that, didn't even look at the girls giggling on the opposite side of the room.

"Stop dismissing my requests, Pope! That shot wasn't so bad in the end, was it?" JJ continued. 

The playful flash appearing in his eyes told Pope though that JJ already knew he'd won Pope over to his side.

"Well if you insist," Pope said, trying to sound annoyed but failing miserably as JJ whooed and pulled Pope to the dance floor with an excited giggle.

As the chorus hit, Pope was jumping without a care in the world and singing along. JJ laughed, mimicking Pope.

"Dude, look at you!! You have moves!" he said between singing the lyrics and shot a thumbs up at Pope.

Pope went all in. He completely ignored everything else, allowed himself to get lost in the happy beats, focused on the sight of JJ in front of him looking like he was having the best day of his life. Pope kind of thought he really was having the time of his life. Sue him for thinking he'd be back home by that time already. Thank god JJ had different plans, thank god he decided to include Pope in his plans. He was distantly aware of all the other kids who'd crowded the floor and singing as loud as they could. This only gave him even more energy. What a moment to be alive.

Pope had lost track of time after two more shots JJ had brought them and dancing for what seemed like infinity. His legs were starting to hurt, everyone was really loud, and the music had gotten boring. He looked over at JJ who seemed to be thinking the same thoughts, only slightly swaying along to the song that was currently playing. He caught Pope's eye and smiled.

"Should we get out of here?" JJ said then, leaning close to Pope's ear, his hot breath against Pope's skin making him shiver.

"Why are you whispering?" Pope deadpanned loudly. "It's not like anyone's gonna hear you anyways over that deafening music!"

JJ rolled his eyes at him, laughed. "You never stop with the questions, do you?"

Pope gave him an apologetic look. "That's the way I am, take it or leave it," he joked.

By that, JJ snaked his arm around Pope's shoulder. "Definitely taking it, let's go!"

And Pope obeyed because what else could he do. He'd already drunk weird-looking shots and danced in front of random teenagers tonight thanks to the blond's influence, so why not? JJ pushed his way through the crowd skillfully, Pope following close. 

As soon as they got outside Pope suddenly felt very very tired. He wasn't used to that obnoxiously loud music and dancing around in a dark room while drunk girls kept stepping on his feet. And there had been many many drunk girls tonight, all dressed up as multiple variations of cats and witches, and god knows what else. He was relieved that JJ had offered to bail so early.

"Wanna go for a walk or something?" JJ suggested and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.

Pope snorted. It was probably like 2am, the sky looked like it was about to rain soon and he was about to go on a walk with an overly energetic boy he'd just met a few hours ago. What a night.

"Yeah, only if you're okay with walking me home because I'm sleepy as hell and my legs won't take me anywhere else," he replied to JJ.

JJ's face lit up with a pleased smile. "Sure, guide the way!"

So they started walking towards Pope's house, which was actually only a few blocks away. Pope deliberately fell into a slow pace. It surprised him how quiet, almost reserved, JJ was now that they left the noisy crowds behind. At first, they walked in silence, shoulders bumping every once in a while. Soon JJ started up a conversation again, asking about Pope's life before moving and other similar questions. And Pope answered, although he wasn't used to sharing details about his personal life like that. He liked how easily the words flowed between them. JJ listened to his ramblings with eager curiosity. Somehow it seemed like he was a whole different person now, like he'd just been putting up a show earlier. Pope guessed he liked that version of JJ even more.

"Okay, we're here," Pope said soon.

He'd almost walked past the house, being so occupied with talking to JJ.

JJ took in the sight of his small front yard and said after a brief examination: "I like the carved pumpkin decorations."

Pope just smiled. He was tired.

"Sooo, when can I see you again?" JJ asked after a short pause and turned himself to face Pope, rocking on his heels.

His eyes were shining under the glow of the street lamps, almost glittering with anticipation.

Pope said without hesitation: "I'm working tomorrow, you could come by after 5?"

"And afterwards I can buy you a pizza," JJ replied smugly right after Pope finished his sentence. Like he'd been waiting this whole time to say this.

Oh, so that's what it was. And now Pope was flustered, damn it. He felt his face heating up despite the crisp late fall air. He shrugged with an awkward smile. Maybe so. "Yeahhh," he breathed out.

"All right, see you there, chief!" JJ said with a wink and gone he was.

Pope was left standing on the pavement, watching as JJ slowly disappeared into the darkness. Before turning the corner, he swirled around foolishly, walking backwards, and waved to Pope. Pope waved back with a silly grin on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Kudos are also appreciated :)
> 
> I'm on Tumblr @dreamypope!


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